1 The Girl On The Train (15)
(Tate Taylor, 2016, US) 112 mins
Paula Hawkins’s bestseller relocates from London to upstate New York and emerges as a turbulent domestic thriller, in the tradition of 80s fare such as Jagged Edge and Fatal Attraction. The plot – involving a murder, three women’s intertwining love lives and some unfeasible train-window voyeurism – is pretty ridiculous, but Emily Blunt’s committed turn as a blackout-prone alcoholic holds it together.
2 The Greasy Strangler (18)
(Jim Hosking, 2016, US/UK) 91 mins
This wilfully artless trash-wallow is like an oily saveloy: one’s enjoyment may vary according to dietary preferences and state of intoxication. The killer of the title is a naked, lard-slathered old coot who conducts crap disco tours with his nerdy son, until a woman comes between them.
3 My Scientology Movie (15)
(John Dower, 2015, UK/USA) 97 mins
Last year Alex Gibney’s Going Clear took down Scientology with forensic research; now Louis Theroux finishes the job with satire. There are few investigative revelations, but absurdity abounds as Theroux hires defectors and actors to restage key Scientological practices, turning the camera on the organisation’s minions.
4 Swiss Army Man (15)
(Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, 2016, US) 97 mins
Paul Dano finds multiple uses for a dead Daniel Radcliffe in a quirkily surreal buddy movie that’s deeper than its lowbrow comedy (Dano uses Radcliffe’s farting corpse like a jetski, for example), initially suggests. The shoot-for-the-moon premise and lo-fi invention bring to mind a Michel Gondry or a Spike Jonze.
5 Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (12A)
(Tim Burton, 2016, UK/Bel/US) 127 mins
A phantasmagoric fantasy that plays to Burton’s strengths in gothic milieux and empathetic outcast heroes. This one stars a wide-eyed Asa Butterfield, who discovers an orphanage full of children with strange powers, presided over by Eva Green.
